Northern Territory general election, 2016

Northern Territory general election, 2016
Northern Territory
27 August 2016
All 25 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
13 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Adam Giles Michael Gunner
Party Country Liberal Labor
Leader since 14 March 2013 20 April 2015
Leader's seat Braitling Fannie Bay
Last election 16 seats 8 seats
Current seats 12 seats 7 seats
Seats needed Increase1 Increase6
TPP @ 2012 55.8% 44.2%
TPP polling 38.2% 61.8%
Incumbent Chief Minister

Adam Giles
Country Liberal

The next Northern Territory general election is scheduled for 27 August 2016 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament whose current members were elected at the 2012 election.[1]

Legislation passed in February 2016 changed the voting method of single-member electorates from full-preferential voting to optional preferential voting.[2]

The election will be conducted by the independent body answerable to Parliament known as the Northern Territory Electoral Commission.

Timing

The timing of the election is dictated by the Northern Territory Electoral Act. Section 23 of the Act fixes polling day as the fourth Saturday in August of the fourth year after the previous election (unless that election had been an extraordinary election). The last election was in 2012, and was a regular election. Therefore, the next election is due on Saturday, 27 August 2016.[3]

An earlier election is possible in the event that a motion of no confidence in the government is passed by the assembly. Section 24 of the act states that an early election can be called if a motion of no confidence in the NT government is passed by the assembly, and no new government can secure the assembly's confidence within eight days. The original confidence motion must be tabled with at least three days' notice.[4] Alternatively, section 25 mandates an early election if the assembly rejects an appropriation bill.[5] Furthermore, section 26A permits a regular election to be moved by up to 2 months in order to avoid a clash with a federal election (either for the House of Representatives, the Senate, or both). Given the next federal election is due before January 2017, and a half-Senate election cannot be held before 6 August 2016, there remains a possibility that this section will need to be enforced for the next NT election.[6]

Background

The Terry Mills-led CLP opposition defeated the Paul Henderson-led Labor government at the 2012 election, winning 16 of 25 seats.

Adam Giles was elected by the CLP party-room to replace Giles as Chief Minister and CLP leader less than a year later at the 2013 CLP leadership ballot.[7] Giles became the first indigenous head of government of an Australian state or territory.[8][9]

Resulting from the 2015 CLP leadership ballot on 2 February, the possibility of a confidence motion being put to the assembly was raised by Willem Westra van Holthe to take over the leadership from Giles, however Giles managed to retain the leadership and continued to govern.[10]

Five months later, in July 2015, CLP member Kezia Purick defected from the party, the fourth parliamentarian to leave the CLP since the previous election, reducing the CLP to minority government.[11] Giles raised the possibility of an early election on 20 July stating that he would "love" to call a snap poll, but that it was "pretty much impossible to do". Crossbenchers dismissed the notion of voting against a confidence motion to bring down the government.[12]

Redistribution

A redistribution of the Northern Territory's electoral boundaries commenced in February 2015, with draft boundaries released in June. Once finalised, these boundaries will apply to the 2016 general election.[13]

On 16 June 2015, the NTEC released their proposals for redistribution. Major changes included in the proposal were:[14][15]

A period of thirty days in which interested parties and individuals could lodge objections ended on 16 July 2015.

On 16 September 2015, the NTEC released their final report into boundaries for 2016 and beyond. The changes that will occur will be less severe than those proposed in June:[16]

Following the completion of the final report, it must be tabled in the assembly. In the event that an early election were called before the report was tabled, it would be conducted using the existing boundaries.[17]

Opinion polling

Just one opinion poll has been released since the previous election – conducted by ReachTEL and commissioned by The Australian which surveyed 1036 residents via robocall on the afternoon of Sunday 1 March 2015 across all 18 electorates in Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs – which indicated a landslide 17.6% two-party swing against the incumbent CLP government since the last election.[18][19][20]

Date Primary vote TPP vote
CLP ALP GRN OTH CLP ALP
1 Mar 2015 34.4% 41.8% 8.8% 15.0% 38.2% 61.8%
25 Aug 2012 election 50.6% 36.5% 3.3% 9.6% 55.8% 44.2%

13.7% of voters were initially undecided as to their primary vote, with the CLP on 30.2%, the ALP on 38.0%, the Greens on 6.9% and others on 11.3%. Asked which party the 13.7% undecided had "even a slight leaning" for: 30.8% to the CLP, 27.9% to the ALP, 13.7% to the Greens and 27.7% to others. As a proportion of 13.7%, this equated to CLP 4.2%, ALP 3.8%, Greens 1.9%, other 3.8%, which have been added to the initial totals in the table.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Timetable for Future Elections: Antony Green ABC 27 May 2013
  2. ↑ Northern Territory Adopts Optional Preferential Voting and Bans Campaigning Near Polling Places: Antony Green 11 February 2016
  3. ↑ "Electoral Act section 23". Northern Territory Consolidated Acts. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Electoral Act section 24". Northern Territory Consolidated Acts. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Electoral Act section 25". Northern Territory Consolidated Acts.
  6. ↑ "Electoral Act section 26A". Northern Territory consolidated acts. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Mills dumped as Giles takes top Territory job". ABC News (Australia). 13 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  8. ↑ Everingham, Sara (14 March 2013). "Indigenous politician Adam Giles to replace Terry Mills as NT Chief Minister". AM (ABC Radio) (Australia). Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  9. ↑ "Giles denies plot to overthrow Mills". ABC News (Australia). 14 March 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "Adam Giles remains NT chief minister". SBS News. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  11. ↑ Kezia Purick quits Northern Territory Country Liberals party, Government loses one-seat majority: ABC 20 July 2015
  12. ↑ Adam Giles would 'love to go to an early election' after Kezia Purick resigns Country Liberals party: ABC 20 July 2015
  13. ↑ "Redistribution 2015". Northern Territory Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  14. ↑ Green, Antony (16 June 2015). "Draft Electoral Boundaries Released for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly". Antony Green's Election Blog (ABC). Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "Redistribution Report" (PDF). Northern Territory Electoral Commission. p. 47. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "Final Report" (PDF). Northern Territory Electoral Commission. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Redistribution Report" (PDF). Northern Territory Electoral Commission. NTEC. p. 6. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  18. ↑ The Australian - Northern Territory poll - 1 March 2015: ReachTEL 2 March 2015
  19. ↑ Adam Giles-led Country Liberals Government facing crushing NT electoral defeat, new poll figures: ABC 3 March 2015
  20. ↑ ReachTEL 18% swing to Labor in Northern Territory: Poll Bludger 3 March 2015

External links

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